NEW! A Common Sense Guide for Teaching Common Core Literacy (DOWNLOADABLE!)

950+ page book for teaching Common Core literacy! Fully reproducible student and teacher resources!

A Common Sense Guide for Common Core Literacy is a must-have for teachers who are responsible for implementing the new Common Core State Standards in their classrooms. With nearly 1,000 pages of information, Common Core aligned sample questions, and reproducible, classroom-ready resources, it is guaranteed to assist teachers in making the transition to the new CCSS. Not only will this book help teachers better understand the standards, what they mean, how they are crafted, and how they build on one another from one grade to the next, but it will explain how to implement the standards in their classrooms, how to align their existing materials to the CCSS, and how to craft formative and summative assessments to track student mastery of the standards. The resources provided in this book aim to help teachers make the Common Core State Standards work for them! Nobody wants to have to throw away years of hard word spent on crafting, refining, and perfecting lessons, materials and assessments just because they were aligned to an old set of standards...and this doesn't have to be the case. With this book, teachers can build off of their existing curriculum and make connections between what they are already doing and what is required by the new CCSS. Teachers, departments, professional learning communities, schools, and districts all play a role in implementing the CCSS, and whether individual teachers use this book to help achieve their own goals for integrating the standards into their classrooms, or entire districts use it is a resource to train teachers and administrators in how to implement the standards, create quality Common Core aligned assessments, and track student mastery of the standards, this book contains a wealth of invaluable information and resources that can help make the transition to the Common Core State Standards easier for everyone.

How this book will help you:

1. Better understand the standards and what they really mean.

2. Recognize what is required of students in order to demonstrate mastery of the standards.

3. Grasp how the standards progress from one grade to the next and the role of your particular grade in the overall progression.

4. See the connections between traditional methods and approaches to teaching literacy and what is required by the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

5. Explain the standards to your students and help them master the CCSS using the reproducible resources provide in this book.

6. Provide your students with accurate, comprehensive definitions of every key term that they will need to know and understand in order to successfully master the CCSS.

7. Craft formative and summative assessments aligned to the new CCSS using your existing texts and materials.

8. Use your assessments to gain meaningful, accurate data about student mastery of the CCSS.

If you are a teacher in one of the states that have adopted the Common Core State Standards and you are looking for something that will help you implement the new standards in your classroom, then this book is for you. Not only will we provide you with all of the information that you need to better understand the standards and how to implement them in your classroom, but we will give you classroom-ready materials that you can use to supplement your existing curriculum AND we will help you build your own Common Core aligned assessments using the texts and materials that you already teach. Because you know what works best for your students, our goal is to provide you with everything you need to make the Common Core State Standards work for you!


What is in this book?

Standards Breakdowns – “unpacked” standards with detailed breakdowns of the topics, concepts, skills and abilities needed to master the Common Core standards for literacy.

Graphic Organizers – created solely to track and assess student mastery of the Common Core literacy standards…these aren’t your typical graphic organizers!

Resource Materials – reproducible chapters organized around key concepts - like theme, text structure, and author’s purpose - that students must understand in order to master the CCSS.

Direction for Annotating Texts – reproducible instructions for how to annotate texts for the information required by the CCSS, along with sample annotations for literature and informational texts.

Standards Progressions – graphics illustrating how the Common Core standards progress from one grade to the next, highlighting the elements of each standard that are added or changed at each grade level in order to clarify how each grade fits into the overall progression of the standard.

Key Concepts and Terms – staircase graphics illustrating the terms and concepts that students must understand at each grade level in order to tackle materials and texts designed to assess mastery of the CCSS.

Question Bank – over 300 pages of open-ended and multiple-choice questions that assess mastery of the Common Core literacy standards for each grade. These questions can be adapted to address any text and can be used to craft a variety of formative and summative assessments to gain meaningful data about student mastery of the CCSS for literacy.

Glossary – finally, you can have all of your definitions in one place! This glossary includes every key word, term, and concept that students must know in order to master the CCSS and develop the literacy skills necessary for college and career success.